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News Topical, Digital Desk : The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to a man who spent almost five extra years in jail despite completing his full sentence.
The case pertains to Sohan Singh alias Bablu, who was charged under sections 376 (rape), 450 (house trespass) and 506-B (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code before a sessions judge in Khurai in Sagar district in 2004. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and fined Rs 2,000.
Challenged in MP High Court
This sentence was challenged in the Madhya Pradesh High Court. In October 2007, the High Court partially accepted his appeal and modified the sentence. The High Court said- "Considering all the circumstances and evidence available on record, it would be appropriate to increase the sentence given by the trial court to seven years."
However, despite the reduction in sentence, Sohan Singh had to remain in jail for an additional 4.7 years. He was only released late on bail despite having completed his full sentence.
What did the Supreme Court say?
When the matter reached the Supreme Court, a bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Vishwanathan said that the facts of this case are quite shocking. We want to know how such a serious lapse occurred?
For this, the court gave two weeks' time to the Madhya Pradesh government to file a reply. The bench also said that the illegal detention of Sohan Singh is a serious violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty. Therefore, the Supreme Court ordered the Madhya Pradesh government to pay Rs 25 lakh compensation to the victim.
Along with this, the Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority was asked to identify whether there are more such prisoners who are wrongly being detained for longer than their sentence.
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